Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons will the renaming of civil injunctions as housing injunctions help housing associations tackle anti-social behaviour.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by bringing forward new Respect Orders, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. These were introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill on 25 February.

The Respect Order partially replaces the existing Civil Injunction power for the most persistent and serious adult ASB offenders, carrying with it a power of arrest and sentencing in the criminal courts for breach. It is a broad power for use in situations where behaviour had caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Practitioners who use the Civil Injunction for housing-related ASB have told us the power works well for those purposes. The element of the Civil Injunction that pertains to housing related ASB will therefore be retained, and re-named the 'housing injunction' for clarity, to distinguish it from the Respect Order and the Youth Injunction. The legal test for this is behaviour causing, or capable of causing, housing-related nuisance or annoyance. If agencies consider that ASB committed in the context of neighbour disputes meets the legal test for a Respect Order (behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress), they may determine a Respect Order is the most appropriate option instead.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her Department's policy to remove all foreign national offenders from UK prisons.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The removal of foreign national offenders (FNOs) is an important priority of this Government. FNOs who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation.

After sentencing, FNOs are considered for removal under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) subject to the Home Office issuing a deportation order. The ERS enables the removal of FNOs up to 18 months before the end of their custodial sentence. FNOs deported under the ERS are barred from returning to the UK.

Between 5 July 2024 and 31 January 2025, 2,925 FNOs have been returned from prison and the community - 21% more than the 2,422 in the same period under the previous Government, 12 months prior. This includes 1,557 ERS removals from prison - a 26% increase compared to the same period under the previous Government 12 months prior.

We have invested £5 million for 82 new FNO Specialist roles in prisons to speed up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country. Staff will be in post by April 2025. We will also fast-track removals through a new returns and enforcement unit, with an additional 1,000 Home Office staff.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Florence Eshalomi (Chair); Lewis Cocking; Chris Curtis; Mr Lee Dillon

Found: Resolved, That Mike Amesbury, Lewis Cocking, Chris Curtis, Maya Ellis, Naushabah Khan, Mr Gagan Mohindra

Found: Mohamed Dame Siobhain McDonagh Chris Law Sir Bernard Jenkin Mr Mark Francois Tom Tugendhat Lewis Cocking